Of Puppets and People
by Nisekami
Summary: During a seemingly innocent tag duel, Michael and Christopher Arclight are attacked by the Kamishiro twins, and sent into comas after a near-drowning then. Thomas Arclight, their middle sibling, vows revenge, aided by three mysterious spirits who call themselves "Numbers". Unfortunately, the price to pay is steep, as Thomas is about to find out...
1. Chapter 1

The Hell Prince Rises

All Thomas Arclight could remember of the event that had landed both his brothers in the hospital were the perpetrators' names. They had been admitted after they mysteriously almost drowned in a warehouse.

 _Kamishiro Rio. Kamishiro Ryoga._

 _Funny_ , the (disgraced) duelist thought, bitterly recalling his time at the Asian Championships, just a few months after That Incident.

" _And now, my Gravekeeper's Nobleman can attack you di-what?!"_

 _Red crosses with white 'STOP's on them flashed around the Dueling Field. Damnit, couldn't they have waited? His opponent only had 100 LP left and his Gravekeeper's Oracle had destroyed all his Set cards, a direct attack would've finished him off! Plus, the card in his hand was probably Revenge Return…it couldn't do anything against him._

" _Attention all Duelists." A mechanized, soft voice spoke. "It has been found after rewatching video footage from the waiting room that Thomas Arclight has looked at his opponent, Kamishiro Ryoga's deck. Thus, he will be disqualified and banned from the championship-permanently. Furthermore, Kamishiro Ryoga is declared the current Asian Champion."_

 _Boos and jeers had accompanied his walk of pure, pure shame down from the dueling field. Yeah, he'd looked! But it was for Chris, it was for Mihael, and it was to pay that damn, smug, shark bastard back for all he'd done to Thomas' family half a year ago! He was_ in _this championship for_ them _, and nobody else. Well, maybe Ryoga-just to get back at him. And Rio too, that girl. She'd been there. She'd helped her hellspawn brother critically injure his own._

But in the dueling world, your backstory doesn't matter _, Thomas thought, angrily glaring as Ryoga smirked at him. His deck spilt over the floor, it so wasn't his fault._

"Chris?" The male spoke, reaching out to gently stroke his brother's sleeping face. Chris looked so at peace, and he could've just been sleeping if it wasn't for the various machines or the bandages covering his face. "I know you probably can't hear me, but please…wake up. Dad's gone. You and Mihael are all I have left, so you better not die on me!"

His voice broke off, his one weakness glaring through. After a few more hours spent by their bedsides, Thomas got up, stretched, and prepared to board his motorcycle and head back to the dreary mansion that he'd known as home. Sure, the servants and maids were still there, but without the presence of his family…it just felt cold and dead. No more Mihael to come and serve tea to all of them, no Chris paging through his old science texts and no Byron, recalling the events at the lab.

"It's all that Faker's fault," Thomas hissed angrily as he sped down the road. "That guy and his sons…I remember Chris mentoring them. That…that Kaito and Haruto…they're all gonna pay."

Killing his bike near a station when he saw a blinking light that signified low gas, Thomas prepared to head inside when suddenly, a card came speeding over his shoulder.

Years of reflexes honed by brotherly teasing kicked in, and Thomas plucked the card from the air with little difficulty, turning it over to read it.

 _Huh? Revenge Return? That card?_

"Well, well, well, we meet again, my dear Thomas." A sarcastic voice spoke.

 _That voice._

"Kamishiro." The middle Arclight said, nodding. He tried to restrain his fury, and just succeeded.

"You want revenge, I know that." Ryoga raised both hands in a calming gesture, also shutting off Thomas' challenge for a duel, _right here and now_ , even before the words had come from his throat.

"So what about this? There's a carnival. The World Duel Carnival, registration closes in three days. You can sign up, and maybe we'll meet at the finals. So, Arclight? What's it gonna be?"

"Why should I? I'm not gonna participate."

"Aww, still mad over the Asian Dueling Circuit?"

"Kamishiro, your crotch is thirty seconds away from being kneed with great force."

"Look, I get it. You're mad. But you should know something."

Ryoga approached Thomas, who made no move. To run away was to show weakness.

" _The little incident at the Dueling circuit was no mistake. I set my deck up on a flowerpot so it would fall and you'd look. And get kicked out."_

Rage.

That was all that he could feel. Primal, lava-hot rage. The shark bastard in front of him had gotten a title he didn't deserve, injured people who didn't deserve it and above all, existed. Those three reasons were more than enough to justify separating Ryoga's head from the rest of him.

"Maybe you'll meet me at the finals. Maybe you won't. Who knows? Farewell, Thomas. May we meet again someday-I hope." Ryoga said, his voice sounding quite mocking. "Bye…"

And with that, Ryoga disappeared. Thomas had no idea where on earth he'd gone to, but the challenger's instinct in him had been awoken.

And there was no stopping it.

 _Screw my pride and Ryoga-actually wait NONONO don't screw Ryoga. Ahem, anyways, I might as well go ahead and enter. What do I have to lose?_ Thomas mused, before finally nodding.

Little did the duelist know, that he would be in for much, much more than he had expected.

 _Thomas._

The voice was soft. It could've been mistaken for a gust of wind, but Thomas knew that wasn't so.

"Uh…hello?" The duelist asked, tilting his head.

The voice seemed to be coming from his deck, which he hadn't touched in years. Every time he saw it, he would remember Ryoga and That Incident and Rio Kamishiro.

 _Thomas._

Great, there it was again. Definitely coming from his deck.

Wait.

Was it glowing?

 _Thomas._

"What do you want?" He mumbled, careful not to wake anybody up.

 _What you want…master Arclight._

"What do you mean by 'master Arclight'?"

 _You are, after all, our master. Us, the cards in your deck._

"When did my deck get possessed by spirits?"

 _Uh…since today?_

"Well, _that's_ credible-sounding."

 _Good Exodia, you're impossible._

"Well then, how do I exist if I'm supposedly impossible?"

 _You are the worst master we have ever met in centuries. Anyways, what we are offering you is a chance for revenge._

"Oh?" The card-spirit-thing now had Thomas' attention. The bi-colored-haired male stepped closer to his deck. "Revenge? On Kamishiro Ryoga and Kamishiro Rio?"

 _Why, of course._ Thomas could just about see the smirk on the spirit's face. _If only you allow us to grant you power. Power beyond comprehension. The ability to utterly humiliate Kamishiro Ryoga. What do you say, master Arclight?_

The way the word 'master' was spoken in his mind seemed almost like a jeer. Thomas weighed the options: One, confront Kamishiro Ryoga and possibly beat him. Two, keep sulking over this. Or…three, accept its offer.

Be damned if Thomas wasn't going to say yes.


	2. Chapter 2: Flaming Heart

Of Puppets and People

Chapter 2: Flaming Heart

 _So this is the Heartland Carnival, huh._ Thomas mused. _Doesn't look like much, but eh, seems okay._

Thomas had just entered the fanciful gates of the carnival during opening time and duels had already begun heating up. Flipping his green-tinted D-Gazer over one eye, the Arclight glanced around, seeing holograms of monsters unfold and do battle. Flashes of light from activated Spell and Trap cards could be seen in his peripheral vision.

Duels were the lifeblood of Japan, maybe even the Earth itself. It was almost like part of their survival-you were unlikely to find someone who _didn't_ own a D-Gazer, Duel Disk or both. Card shops advertising booster packs were just as commonplace as food stalls.

Thus, it didn't surprise Thomas that so many had decided to enter the carnival. Duelists from all over the world were joining-coming together to try and earn the prestigious title of "World Duel Champion". He almost scoffed at the various wannabes around, all thinking they even had a chance. Against world-champion duelists, they were nothing.

He kept walking, passing by numerous pairs, his D-Gazer equipped

Thomas shook himself out of his reverie of the days when he was a kid and began to contemplate his next move. Sentimentality was a good thing to have-it proved that you were still human-but it was going to be dead weight in this competition. He couldn't draw too much attraction to himself, since the host of the tournament had ties to Faker, so Thomas had signed in under the simple code name of "IV". Four in Roman numerals, his favourite number.

Who to duel first? Time was ticking by, and everyone else around him had their own duels to bother with. Making sure that his card holder was safe and secure, Thomas turned and began to jog in the opposite direction of the crowd, hoping to find a few stragglers.

Five Heart Pieces, but one given free. He just needed four more-maybe if he could challenge someone for all of their Pieces? No, smart people who would prove a challenge would know better. He should just challenge the small fry of the competition. Maybe he might find a few Number cards-they attached themselves to a Duelist, however weak they might be.

Merag Kamishiro was not a patient woman. Especially not with her brother.

"Hurry u-p, Nasch!" She huffed impatiently. "Look, stop playing around, okay? They obviously don't have Numbers. So why are you still playing around?"

The crest she had been given throbbed on her hand. It wasn't painful, just...different. It felt alive, almost, with anticipation. Yes, the tension was building up in the air. He was going to do it.

Nasch was about to summon a Number.  
The two of them could finally move on to the next phase in their benefactor's mission-discovering and eliminating all Number Duelists participating in the WDC. Unknowingly, Mr. Heartland had made things a lot easier for the two of them-Merag sensed Numbers everywhere from her crest. Their faint pull could be felt, as if reaching out to say "Come on. Duel my owner. Take me."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it, Merag." Nasch rolled his eyes and turned back to the dueling field, facing his two opponents-a guy named Tetsuo and another named Takashi.

"Numbers?!" Merag heard someone (the lobster-head, as she dubbed him mentally) exclaim. "They're collecting Numbers too?!"

 _"Too", huh?_ The blue-and-purple-haired girl thought. _So you're a Number duelist-I guess I have to Duel you someday, then._

"My turn," Nasch whispered, his eyes almost glowing. The white teeth of his shark-like Duel Disk gleamed in the light of the alley streetlamps where her brother had wanted to have his duel at. Nasch had lured them here to find out if they possessed Numbers-but Merag realized that she had probably been targeting the wrong people. The Number pull had probably come from the lobster-head who had accompanied them.

"DRAW!"

Yanking the card from his deck, Nasch glanced at it briefly before flipping it over. "First, I summon "Hammer Shark" in Attack Position. Then, I Flip Summon my previously Set "Double Shark". And now, since my "Spear Shark" is on the field, you can probably guess what's coming up next."

Nasch smirked.

"SHOW YOURSELF, NUMBERS 32! THE MOST POWERFUL RULER OF THE DEEP SEA! YOUR SHARP FANGS SHALL EXTERMINATE EVERYTHING! I OVERLAY MY LEVEL 4 HAMMER SHARK, DOUBLE SHARK AND SPEAR SHARK! WITH THESE THREE MONSTERS, I BUILD THE OVERLAY NETWORK!"

Merag's formerly pleasant and kindly grin had disappeared-replaced by one of pure malice and evil. Her crest glowed brightly on her forehead-an icicle motif, ice white with a hint of ocean blue.

"XYZ SUMMON! THE RANK 4 NUMBER 32: SHARK DRAKE!"

Nasch's own crest appeared, as if drawn by some invisible hand. An image of a serpent, twining around a sword, in deep blue/white purple light.

"Now, I activate the spell card "Double Attack". Ready?" Nasch mocked, grinning wildly.

"If I discard one card from my hand, I can target a monster with a lower Level. That monster can attack twice. And...I'm picking "Jawsman"!"

A spectral figure of the many-mouthed...abomination appeared, and flashed briefly as Nasch slid a card into the Graveyard slot of his Disk.

"The Level of "Jawsman" was 5. Shark Drake's Level is 4."

"He's changed..." Kotori whispered, glancing away in both fear and disgust. "It's...kind of scary..."

"Now, go Shark Drake!" Nasch commanded. "Attack 'UFO Turtle'! _**Depth Bite**_!"

The turtle's 1400 ATK was incomparable to Shark Drake's 2100, and Tetsuo was thrown backwards, his LP counter ticking down to 1300 LP. Merag felt a rather twisted sense of satisfaction-Tetsuo had actually believed himself capable of defeating Nasch. She had to admit that both were good-far better than the guys Nasch usually faced.

"The next attack goes to Takashi-kun! Go, attack his Antidote Nurse! _**Depth Bite**_!"

Takashi's LP counter went to 1700, the yellow numbers counting down, almost as if to his defeat. The 8-bit nurse was destroyed, fragmenting into tiny yellow shards. Nasch didn't stop there.

"I detach an Overlay unit from Shark Drake, and revive all the monsters he just destroyed with 1000 less ATK!"

"Huh?!" Tetsuo's face displayed puzzlement. "Why is he reviving our monsters, even though they'll have a handicap?"

"Because..." Nasch hummed, creating a pregnant pause in the air, "It'll let Shark Drake make a _second_ attack! And right now...I have another copy of Double Attack and Jawsman in my hand~"

Sharks normally refused to let their prey get away. However, Merag knew that Nasch liked to play around with his fans, dueling them simply to crush their spirits.

Not that she would deny it was somewhat creepy-but Nasch had been like that ever since He had taken them in for his family. He'd told them that his real family were disappointments, and had entrusted them with the mission of taking two of them down-Christopher and Mihael Arclight. Merag knew what had happened afterwards-the middle child, Thomas, had entered the Asia Championships.

He'd also promptly been thrown out 20 minutes after the final match had began.

Merag had heard that the Arclights were responsible for the accident that had killed both their parents-they had paid a mercenary to cause the car crash. So she was justified in wanting revenge, wasn't she? Merag and Nasch had been given crests, just like His, and they were told to put them to good use.

She watched on as LP counters fell once again, dropping down to zero, and the Sphere Field declared Nasch the winner before dematerializing.

Merag and Nasch vanished in Overlay Networks, leaving behind two unconscious bodies and a single, stunned boy.


End file.
